Football shoulder pad



Jul 29, 1941. E. M. LOOKABAUGH FOOTBALL SHOULDER PAD Filed July 51, 1939 eeoe Patented July 29, 1941 titlSSilED A 28 be UNITED start-s orrics 2 Claims.

My invention relates to football shoulder pads for giving protection to the chest, shoulders and back of person participating the hazardous game of football.

The principal objects of my invention are to provide a device of this character which is new, novel, useful and of evident utility; which consists of but few sturdy parts, can be slipped over the head and immediately adjusted to the body; which cannot easily get out of order and is emcient for the purposes for which it is intended; to provide a shoulder pad having the salient features of durability, light weight, greater strength and more protection than now extant; a device having heavy gauge fibre chest, shoulder and back body pads, securely stitched or otherwise secured to cushion rubber padding encased in airplane cloth, said padding being double thickness over the top of the shoulders and re-inforced with spring steel; to provide a hinge connection at the back of said body pads, lacing for the front and bellows style leather binding at the neck thereof; to provide moulded and corrugated turtle-back design, fibre shoulder caps stitched or otherwise secured to cushion rubber padding encased in airplane cloth with extra pads in the centers and roll-padded around the edges, said caps being attached to the outer edges of the shoulder arch of its body pads by double edge leather hinges; to provide dual fibre cantilever shoulder flaps or epaulets, spring steel reinforced, humped, and corrugated, padded and lined with rubber and airplane cloth, hinged over the inner edge of the shoulder arches with triple leather hinges; to provide web snubber shock absorbers spaced from said hinges on both sides toward the front and back for joining the epaulets to the body pads; also adjustable elastic body straps for positioning under the arms.

With these and other objects in View as will more fully appear, my invention consists in the construction, novel features, and combination of parts hereinafter more fully described, pointed out in the claims hereto appended, and illustrated in the accompanying one-sheet drawing, of which,

Figure 1 is a perspective view of my football shoulder pad; Fig. 2 is a fragmentary perspective view showing the shoulder cap in natural position, the cantilever epaulet being folded back; Fig. 3 is a fragmentary plan View of the pad; Fig. 4 is a section on the line 4--4 of Fig. 3 and Fig. 5 is a section on the line 55 of Fig. 3.

Like characters of reference designate like parts in all the figures.

It is understood that various changes in the form, proportion, size, shape, Weight and other details of construction, within the scope of my invention may be resorted to Without departing from the spirit or broad principle of my invention and without sacrificing any of the advantages thereof, and it is further understood that the drawing is to be interpreted as being illustrative and not restrictive.

One preferred embodiment of my invention is shown as follows: Body members I are made right and left, protect the chest, arch over the shoulders and down the back. The said members I are made of heavy gauge fibre, lined on the inner faces with cushion rubber padding encased in airplane cloth, this padding 2 extending beyond the edges of said members 1 around the entire periphery thereof. The collar edges at the neck have bellows-style soft suede leather binding. This padding and binding may be secured to members I by stitching or any other suitable means. The right and left body members have leather hinge connection 4 at the back and lacing 5 at the front. The perforated lacing edging 6 may be riveted and stitched to members I. The cushion rubber padding 1 over top of shoulder has double the thickness of the padding used at the front and back.

The moulded shoulder caps 8 are of turtleback design and have stiffening corrugations 9. The said caps 8 are lined with cushion rubber padding Ill encased in airplane cloth, extending beyond the edges thereof, the said padding being double thickness at the center I I and roll-padded under the edges Ill. The caps 8 are secured to the outer edges of the shoulder arches of body members I by double edge leather hing-es l2 by rivets or any other suitable means.

My dual fibre cantilever shoulder flaps or epaulets |3 have base fibres I4 and top fibres 15, the latter being formed with transverse humps I6 near their centers. Between said fibres l4 and I5 I provide longitudinal spring steel re-inforcing I! which conforms to the inner contours of the said humps l6. Epaulets I3 have similar but thinner cushion rubber or felt paddings l8 encased in airplane cloth as used for lining the members I and caps 8, but the said paddings extend only slightly beyond the edges of the said epaulets. Triple leather hinges l9 secure the epaulets l3 to the inner edges of the shoulder arches of body members I, thus the said cantilevered epaulets l3 ride the body members I and extend out over the shoulder caps 8, the outer edges of said epaulets l3 resting over the corrugations 9 of caps 8. I provide web snubber shock absorbers 20 on both sides of hinges I9 at the front and back of the cantilever epaulets I3. The said snubbers 20 serve as balanced fulcrums for the cantilevered epaulets I3 being anchored at hinge I9. The outer ends of said snubbers are secured between the base fibres I4 and top fibres I5, fold over the inner edges of epaulets I 3, swing back like a letter S and have their inner ends secured under the outer edges of body members I as can best be seen in Fig. 5. The said snubbers 20 permit movement of epaulets I3 as seen in Fig. 2 but prevent lateral displacement from blows striking the outer, exposed edges. The said snubbers 20 also provide added stability to the cantilever, re-inforce the hinge I9 and protect the epaulet I3 from being torn loose.

As can best be seen in Fig. 1, adjustable elastic body straps 2I attached to the lower outer edges of the body members I are adapted for positioning under the arms to prevent the shoulder pads from slipping oil over the head.

Football coaches who have developed winning teams appreciate the vital necessity of securing equipment that protects the athlete, gives him comfort and allows freedom of action without sacrificing speed. Injuries may result in the loss of a good player when most needed as well as sufiering, eXpense and perhaps permanent handicap. While other parts of the body are subject to impairment, the shoulders receive many hard blows as they take the brunt in tackling, blocking, running interference, holding the line and similar plays. A blow on the point of the shoulder may cause dislocation. A downward blow may snap the clavicle or collar bone. A blow on the chest may break a rib. The purpose of my invention is to obviate all of this by protecting these vulnerable points. My body members I protect the chest and back. My moulded and cushioned shoulder cap 8 preserves the safety of the shoulder joint and my cantilevered epaulet I3 rides the other two and guards the clavicle against breakage, all of which is self-evident from the foregoing specification.

Having thus fully described my invention, What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a football shoulder pad, the combination with laced body members, hinged shoulder caps and arched cantilevered epaulets, of hinged means for securing the central section of the said epaulets to the inner edges of the body members and two web snubber shock absorbers for securing the said epaulets to the outer edges of the body members at both the front and back of said epaulets, the said central hinge and snubbers forming a three-point support for the said epaulets against displacement, substantially as described.

2. In a football shoulder pad, the combination with hinged and laced body members to be secured around the chest of the wearer and hinged shoulder caps, of arched re-inforced padded cantilevered epaulets centrally hinged to the inner edges of the body members and having S-shaped limiting snubber straps for anchoring the inner edges of the said epaulets against the outer edges of the body members, the said hinge and snubbers forming a three-point support against displacement of the said epaulets.

EDWIN M. LOOKABAUGH. 

